Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums High School Verbal SATs and the Verbal Comprehension Index

I understand that Davidson treats a 10th grade score of 700 on the Verbal SAT as equivalent to a 145 VCI. Does anyone have an estimate as to what late Junior year or early senior year verbal score might correspond to a 145 vci?

I don't have the answer to your question, but would like to share my personal experience with SAT and IQ.

I have a WAIS III 145 VCI (although my other 3 indexes are much, much lower with a FSIQ only in the average range). I achieved only a 680 on Verbal SAT at the end of Junior year of high school.

I believe that while there is a definite correlation between Verbal SAT and VCI, it's only moderate, since two thirds of the SAT Verbal section is composed of reading comprehension, which is not a factor for VCI at all. Only a third of the section relies on vocabulary and verbal reasoning which correlate to VCI more.

I'm just basing this statement on their admissions page which states that they accept either a 145 or better on the WISC or a 700 or better on the Sat verbal for consideration for entry into the program. Perhaps 'equivalent' is the wrong word, but they seem to treat the scores as providing similarly relevant information about a candidate's verbal ability.

http://www.davidsonacademy.unr.edu/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=144&NavID=1_33

Your point about the ceiling effect is well taken. I did not realize that the SAT had such a low ceiling.

I was one of those kids with the very high SAT scores (both parts) and ACT scores (all parts) early on, and my scores didn't change much from the end of middle school to the end of high school when I took the tests again.
I think that the ceilings for these exams are pretty low for students taking them at the end of high school (sort of like grade level tests in grade school). Also, as was pointed out, the SAT bases a good portion of the score on reading comprehension, which isn't used much for verbal reasoning and IQ scores.

Dottie, any more thoughts on this matter?

DRK2310,

I would happily join in this conversation, but it would help to know WHY you're looking for the SAT verbal score that would correspond to a 145 VCI.

In many ways, I think that IQ scores matter less and less as the kid gets older. What counts is what one does with it. Don't the Davidson Academy test requirements change around 7th grade? I can't recall, but I think that the post-7th grade requirements lean towards the real-life tests (SAT, ACT...) and away from IQ tests and achievement tests like the WJ-III (which are much more limited at the higher levels because of how few questions/topics are covered).

Here's a chart I found, FWIW. http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/SATIQ.aspx

You have wondering........I can't remember what I scored on SAT.

I looked at some of the other links on that page and found a few things that don't set quite right with me. The GRE to IQ correlations they list completely leave out the analytical section which I do believe has been eliminated, but did correlate fairly well with "g" in that it was a test of analytical reasoning, patterns, and visual spatial measures.

The "occupational IQs" chart that purports to list the range of IQs of people in various professions rubbed me the wrong way honestly and not b/c I am a janitor . (I'm not.) There is no way to say that the full range of IQs for truck drivers, for instance, begins at 76 and ends at 109. I've known truck drivers with PhDs who are a lot brighter than 109, but who were introverts who found their place on the road and away from dealing with people all day. That career line, in particular, probably has a much, much broader range of IQ than listed there.

I do take your "FWIW" as a disclaimer, though!

Reminded me of Good Will Hunting